Cousin Karly's Birthday Celebrations

AJ's cousin Karly turned 5 last week! What a big girl! We went to her birthday party at my sister Kim's house the Sunday before the actual day, and got to celebrate with the whole family. Here is a picture of my mom, Omi, with all 3 grandkids...it's hard to get a perfect shot, so this one is more about what happens when we try to get a picture taken. They are funny!



Then for Karly's "real" birthday, AJ and I met Kim, Karly and Kyra at the Museum of Science and Industry. I had been able to score the MSI Museum Pass, a rare find, earlier at the library, so we all got in for nothin'! We also found out that there is different parking available other than the $14 lot, so the whole day was FUN and FREE. (If you've noticed a pattern of free activities on this blog, you're on to me! I love using the library's Museum Passes and taking advantage of all the city has to offer for AJ, because the less $ we spend, the more we can do!)
The first area we headed to was the Idea Factory, a cool place for kids with interactive stations. On the way there, I took this crazy picture of AJ running around in the Circus zone. He was pointing to the stars on the floor and when I took a picture, the flash went off and you could no longer see the stars...so this shot was taking with no flash. The blurry AJ is testament to that fact as well as how short attention spans can be when there is so much to see!
When we got to the Idea Factory, the kids went in different directions and started playing with all the stuff. Not everything was working (typical of Chicago museums) but it was still pretty neat. There was a sort of little, kid-height river with plastic balls floating in it, and the children could do different things at different points in the "river" to make different things happen. AJ was into some of it, but also enjoyed just running around with the colored balls. Karly was into figuring out how to make things happen, and here's a picture of she and Kyra experimenting with pulleys...I'm not sure Kyra's really pulling anything though.

There was also a little-kid area in the Idea Factory where AJ and Kyra played while Kim got to spend some time with Karly. Here are some pics of AJ and Kyra playing in the nice warm water and wearing the cute yellow smocks. I may have said this before, but I think it's neat that we live close enough to one another to get together so the cousins can grow up as friends. That's really special to me, and it makes it that much more cute to see these two together! They are only 8 mo apart...







Next we headed to the Farm Tech exhibit and the kids climbed on the big tractors and checked out cows and where our milk comes from. Then we saw Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle, which Karly really enjoyed. It's soooo detailed and pretty! Then we had a break for lunch before going upstairs to the Great Train Story exhibit. AJ really loved that
one and wanted to climb on all the trains! He made his "bbbrrrrrrmmm" sound a lot and moved his hand in a circle as in " the wheels on the bus go round and round...". His excitement was pretty cute but it was getting hard to keep chasing him around...I included the picture of Kim, Karly and Kyra looking at the trains while AJ runs out of the frame to share what the day was like!










Our last stop was to visit the Egg Hatchery, and Karly got to see these two baby birds just after they had hatched. There were 2 eggs with cracks in them, but those chicks were just teasing us, as they were not going to hatch while we watched...the other side of the incubator had some new chicks who had hatched a while ago and they were all busy and fluffy. Karly's picked a favorite and watched it until we had to go. It was such a fun trip!